Love comes softly
by Fahmida07
Summary: A love which transpires between two individuals, and the journey which they take together. Love isn't all about fireworks and butterflies flying in the tummy. Sometimes love just comes softly
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys! I thought of writing this fan fiction about a love story between Shepard and Miranda. I know a lot of Mass Effect fans wanted to see more about the romance between Shepard and Miranda in ME3 and I'll try my best to show that and meet up to your expectations. I'm not like the writers in ME so bear with me if something looks off. I'll love to see and comments you have about this FF. cheers!

Love comes softly

(A Shepard and Miranda story)

Name: Samuel Shepard

Pre-service history: Earthborn

Psychological profile: War hero

Military specialization: Soldier

Part 1

He walked into his inner sanctum and sat on his chair, pouring a glass of bourbon and lighting up a cigarette. He looked beyond his viewing window and saw the big red giant-class M star illuminating the entire room. Its semispherical edge filled the lower half of his viewing window, dominating but not completely obscuring the field of stars behind. The life span of the star is ending, same thing which is happening to humanity. He wouldn't let humanity reach to an end like this. His holographic screen immediately lighted up as he heard high heels clicking against the floor. He saw the picture and the status of the man he considers a hero. He looked to his right and saw a woman standing a few feet far from him. Long ebony colored hair that reached her back, a white tight uniform that embraced her slender feminine figure, her ashy blue colored eyes focused on the dying star.

Illusive man: Did you get the dossier?

Miranda: yes.

Illusive man: what do you think?

Miranda: Shepard did everything right, more than we could've hoped for, saving the Citadel even saving the Council. Humanity has the trust of the entire galaxy…..and it's still not enough.

Illusive man: Humanity has earned the Councils gratitude, but Shepard remains our best hope.

Miranda: heh they were sending him to fight geth, geth! We both know that's not the real threat, the Reapers are still out there.

Illusive man: And it's upto us to stop them.

Miranda: The Council will never ask for our help, they never did trust Cerberus. But Shepard, they'll listen to him. He's hero, a bloody icon. We need him.

Illusive man: Then find him, whatever the cost.

Miranda slightly nodded her head in agreement and walked away leaving the Illusive man alone, staring at the dead star, drinking his bourbon.

On the other hand

The Council was grateful of Shepard's sacrifice. They've finally realized what humanity was capable of. Captain Anderson now became Councilor Anderson as he was offered a seat in the Council. Shepard and his squad mates took a leave of absence, as Anderson felt they needed it. After they felt they couldn't stay at the Citadel any longer, they thought to take out the Normandy. Shepard boarded the airlock when the Normandy VI spoke up.

Normandy VI: Stand by, shore party. Decontamination in progress.

As soon as the decontamination finished Shepard entered the ship.

Normandy VI: Logged. The Commanding officer is aboard. XO Pressly stands relieved.

Shepard walked through the deck as his crewmates saluted him and passed the CIC when Joker spoke thorough the intercom.

Joker: Message coming in. Patching it through.

It was a message from Admiral Hacket. Shepard stood on the platform overlooking the galaxy map.

Admiral Hacket: Shepard. We have a situation.

Shepard: What is it Admiral?

Admiral Hacket: We've had reports of geth activity on three systems. I'll forward you the location. I want you to investigate it and report back to me as soon as you found something. My hands are full here, see it done.

Shepard: I'll look into it.

Admiral Hacket: Hacket out.

Immediately the galaxy map pointed out the three systems.

Joker: Should I set a course?

Shepard: Do it.

Joker: aye aye.

And then the Normandy departure from the Citadel and moved towards the mass relay to get to their destination.

Four days have passed and now the Normandy arrived at the Terminus systems as it cleared the mass relay.

Joker: Disengaging FTL drives. Stealth systems are engaged. Board is green we're running silent.

Pressly: We're wasting our time. Four days and we haven't found any sign of geth activity.

Joker: Three ships went missing in the last few months, something happened to 'em.

Pressly: I say it's the slavers, the Terminus systems are crawling with them.

Ensign: Systems have picked an unidentified vessel within the perimeter.

Pressly: Run an analysis.

Ensign: Cruiser is changing course….now on intercept trajectory.

Joker immediately felt a tingle through the back of his spine; he had a bad feeling about this.

Pressly: Can't be, stealth systems are engaged. There's no way a ge…..

Joker: It's not the geth! BRACE FOR EVASIVE MANEUVERS!

Just in a matter of seconds they were being targeted and Joker started to make the Normandy move like water. He could see yellow beams whooshing beside the Normandy, missing its target but one hit on the right side of the cockpit and Pressly died instantly.

Ensign: PRESSLY!

Ensign was about to go towards Pressly when another beam hit the left side of the cockpit and killed Ensign immediately, and to make matters worse, it created a fire within the cockpit.

Joker: Multiple hull breaches! Weapons offline, SOMEBODY GET THAT FIRE OUT!

Ashley, Liara, Garrus, Tali and Wrex immediately came out of their quarters and saw the chaos, panic struck within their hearts. Ashley without a second thought went to find Shepard. She immediately suited up, went up the elevator and straight to the mess hall and saw Shepard locking his helmet.

Ashely: Shepard!

Shepard: The evac shuttles are ready, get everyone on board now!

Ashley: Will the Alliance be here in time?

Shepard: They will, now go.

Ashley: Joker's still in the cockpit, he's won't budge, I'm not leaving you either Shepard!

Shepard: I need everyone out of this mess safely; now go….that's an order. I'll take care of Joker.

Ashley: aye aye.

Ashley went straight to the evac shuttles and prepared for everyone to get on board, Garrus came along and saw panic in Ashley eyes.

Garrus: where's Shepard?

Ashley: don't worry about him, get in the shuttle now!

As soon as everyone boarded the shuttle, Ashley boarded and locked her helmet on. As the Normandy deployed the shuttles she could see the Normandy on fire and losing its altitude.

Ashley: oh god!

Wrex: don't worry, he'll be fine…he'll be fine.

Tali: Keelah….

Liara: (sigh)

Garrus: we shouldn't have left him.

Ashley: and what, ignore a direct order?

Garrus: it doesn't matter in this case, it won't matter if he di….

Ashley: Garrus!

Garrus: (sigh)

On the other hand Shepard went to Deck 1 to save the brittle bone kid. The Normandy was almost sheared into half.

Joker: Mayday! Mayday! Mayday this SSV Normandy! We've suffered heavy damage from an unknown enemy.

As soon as Shepard reached deck 1, he saw his beloved ship getting torn into pieces as he slowly went to the cockpit. He went through the kinetic barrier and stopped Joker.

Shepard: Joker! We have to go!

Joker: NO! I'm not leaving the Normandy! I can still save her!

Shepard: Joker the Normandy's lost! Going down with the ship won't change that.

Joker: …..yeah….ok.

Shepard grabbed his arm tightly.

Joker: AH! Watch the arm!

Shepard then quickly loaded him in to an evac shuttle and as soon as he was about to get on board as well, he realizes that he's feet lifted off from the ground and he's floating, any minute this ship will burst into flames.

Joker: Commander!

Shepard quickly launched the shuttle and right then he heard Joker screaming out his name. The evac shuttle got deployed and the Normandy burst into flames which propelled Shepard into floating in space. As he saw his ship burning, his oxygen pipe busted open and he started to suffocate, and within minutes he started to lose altitude as a nearby planet pulled him by its gravity, he turned into a ball of fire as he made his descent and just like that, the Commander of the ship went down with the Normandy. Joker saw everything and a lone tear escaped his eye to fear the inevitable, they lost their Commander.

After five months

Miranda was devastated when she got the news that Cmdr. Shepard is dead. Never in her entire career has she failed to do a job The Illusive Man assigned to her. Her job was simple, bring Shepard to The Illusive Man. She was devastated to know that the only man who can get the job done is no longer alive. She sat in her office pondering what to do next when Jacob came in panting.

Miranda: God Jacob calm down! Is something wrong?

Jacob: you need to see this.

Jacob handed her a holographic notebook and what Miranda saw surged an emotion within her which was both happy and confused.

_Can we really?_

Miranda took this notebook and went straight to The Illusive Man. Miranda walked up the long stairs and reached the door. As she opened the door, she saw The Illusive Man waving his hands on the holographic screen to change the page. Images of Shepard showed on the screen.

Miranda: Do you know?

Illusive Man: Miranda, I'm always the first one to know.

Miranda: Is it possible that we can…..revive him?

Illusive Man: With the right resources, anything's possible.

Miranda: It also seems that we weren't the only one interested on Shepard.

Illusive Man: yes, the Shadow Broker wanted him too, for what purpose…we don't know. A drell named Feron, and Shepard's former teammate Dr. Liara T'Soni found the body. Retrieve it, and I'll make sure that we have everything we need to revive our hero.

Miranda: on my way.

A few weeks passed as Miranda and Jacob successfully brought the dead and burnt Cmdr. Shepard in a Cerberus base. The rest of the scientists were wondering how the hell are they going to revive him. As soon as Miranda entered the lab, every other scientist stood up on guard. The lead scientist walked over to Miranda with a confused and jaded expression.

Scientist: You really think you can revive him?

Miranda: You have any doubt?

Scientist: "Do I have any doubts?" Look at the man, he's burnt and clinically brain dead. His body is pummeled and that long with no oxygen ah…..you can't overcome nature.

Miranda: Illusive Man disagrees. It's all about resources. And we have them. Now listen up everybody. Under the Illusive Man's orders I'm in charge to bring Shepard back. We will do whatever it takes to resurrect him. Project Lazarus is now officially a go.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys! Sorry for the late update, was busy with my studies. Well I hope you enjoy, and feedback is valuable to me.

Chapter 2

Two months has passed and the scientists were working day and night to bring back the dead hero. The lead scientist went to his office and stood on the holographic pad. The Illusive Man on the other hand filled his lungs with the nicotine of his cigarette as he looked over the holographic pad, when he accepted the call, a three-dimensional figure of the scientist projected on the holographic pad.

" How's the work coming along?"

" It's going pretty good. We have seen signs of neurological activity. Sir, I've come up with an idea that might interest you."

"Shoot."

"We can shift our work from simple organic reconstruction to biosynthetic fusion. It'll speed up the process sir. I've already shared this idea to Operative Lawson and she agrees but I need your approval as well."

"Do it. I need him on his feet as soon as possible. That's an order."

"Yes sir."

As the Illusive Man cut the call the 3D image instantly vanished. He took a sip of his Bourbon and savored it, he knew what's at stake, the fate of the human race. The scientist walked out of his office and started working immediately. Miranda and Jacob, were monitoring the progress in the room. So far the scientists were doing a fine job and Shepard was recovering fast. She saw a female scientist looking through a magnifying goggle and using mechanical arms to inject a serum that would recover his dead tissues and make his red blood cells start working again. Engineers were tweaking on a machine to help his heart beat as a support system, like an engine, and they would apply it as soon as his tissues start working again. Dermatologists were working on how to bring his skin back to function and this was a challenge because his body was completely burnt, they looked at a picture of him when he was promoted to the rank of Commander and projected a 3D image of his face so they could reconstruct it. Everybody was working hard. Jacob stood beside Miranda, amazed at how the people gave their time and energy behind just one man.

"Damn. I hope I get some attention like this after I die."

"Only if it's necessary."

"That hurts my feelings."

Miranda: (smirks)

Miranda looked over the glass window and saw a part of Shepard lying on the operating table. She diverted her eyes as she almost saw him completely bare bodied. She respects him too much. She moved away and made Jacob in-charge for the day. She went to her room and sat on the chair, thinking whether she would be successful in bringing the Commander back. She powered her holographic monitor and narrated the events of the day in her audio log.

"Log 48: work is going at a moderate pace; we've sped up the process and initial results show promise. The biggest challenge we're facing so far is to regenerate his skin cells and reconstruct his face. But as the Illusive man said, "No ifs, no buts" so we'll come up with a suitable plan to pass this hurdle."

Miranda turned off the monitor and dug her face in her hands. She hasn't slept for three days now, and reports are coming in non-stop about more missing human colonies. She doesn't know how long will it take for Shepard to be back on his feet again, and she certainly doesn't know when was the last time that a big organization such as Cerberus would pool in all their time, effort and resources to bring one man back to life. But she knows why, Shepard isn't just an ordinary Commander, he is well known for his accomplishment and vigilance and his name scares all wrong doers and wannabe's around the galaxy, and the most amazing part, he caught the attention of such a race that are programmed to do only one thing: to exterminate all organic civilization, the Reapers. She knows they're deeply threatened by him, why wouldn't he? He killed one. That alone shows his stature that he might be a simple military Commander, but he is not ordinary. She pushed back her hair and smiled thinking what kind of an experience it would be to work under him. It would be fun for sure. It motivated Miranda into finishing her job, she wouldn't let this opportunity slip by like that, but above all…she knows humanity needs him. She marched out of her office. Miranda always carries a dark, cold vibe with her. When she walks through a corridor, anyone walking opposite to her would take one look at her, turn back and walk away. She noticed that every single person would do that, and she liked it, and in no time, she would find herself walking through the corridor completely alone, and when she passed, all the workers would come out and walk freely.

In the lab, two scientists were discussing results and were waiting for Miranda to show up.

" Where is she?! Seriously Alan It'll just take me three minutes to bolt through that door, take a piss and come back."

" Who in their right mind would drink five cups of coffee to come up with a result that doesn't even take an hour to prepare?"

" Hey smart ass! Try working at the dermatology department. It's not a piece of cake to bring a dead guy back to life, with no rest and continuous work. Seriously one more minute and my bladders will give up."

"What the hell is going on?!"

Just then Miranda entered and the scientists immediately straightened up. Brian took one look at Miranda's cold dark eyes and he could already feel like giving up.

"Are the results ready?"

" Yes mam, the genetic engineers deciphered the exact amount of melanin needed to bring color to his body. We'll start working on the serum and by that time his skin will be fully reconstructed."

"What about the major organs? Has the synthetic fusion created any sort of problem to his tissues?"

" No mam, by the help of the synthetic engine for his heart, it is now capable of pumping blood throughout his body like a normal heart. It is just a matter of time for his vital organs to be working perfectly."

"Good keep me posted. I'll be in my quarters should you any further results…."

She took a look at Shepard, "…he might be the key to our survival."

"Yes mam."

"Carry on."

By giving a dismissal look she walked away, the scientists looked at each other and they shrugged their shoulders pushing aside their thoughts.

"Wait, take this to Operative Jacob."

"Can't this wait? I need to go!"

Just then an explosion occured to the room adjacent to them and one scientist, covered with black smoke and burned hair ran out of the room and reassured the team. Alan and Brian almost jumped. Everyone was startled.

"It's alright! It was just a minor miscalculation of formulas, nothing to worry."

After giving a nervous giggle, he ran back into the room and used the fire extinguisher to cool the fire. Miranda trotted into the room and only after minutes everyone could hear her lashing out her frustration on the poor scientist.

"Well…I don't need to pee anymore."

Alan took a look at him and gave him a disgusted look, "You have the bladders the size of a pea." saying that he marched straight out of the scene to save himself from further humiliation. Brian ran into the little 'boys' room to change into a pair of new pants. Miranda marched out of the lab, shaking her head in frustration and a scientist slipped and fell on her back all over Brian's urine. Alan saw that and his eyes popped out.

"What the hell is this?!"

"Oh maybe some sort formula got dripped on the floor."

"For god sakes somebody clean this mess! It stinks!"

"Oh Brian you stupid dog." He whispered and went back to work.

It was late at night and Miranda ordered everyone to take the night off and get some rest. She turned off her holographic monitor, stood up and stretched her arms and legs. She never felt this tired before. She walked out of her room and thought of taking a round in the lab. She took the elevator and went down the lab , the lights were off and the only thing illuminating the room dimly was the spot light on Shepard as he laid helplessly on the operating table. She slowly made her way to the table and took a good look at him, scars all over his face, lips dry, and his whole body covered with a big white cloth. Beside the table, was a 3D projection of the status of the regeneration of his organs. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, she would indeed give her best to bring back this man, and as she thought that she didn't even realize that her cold icy eyes were replaced with warmth in them. She walked back into the elevator as the elevator doors closed the image of Shepard, she went straight to her quarters, changed into something more free and comfortable and laid flat on the bed, shutting her eyes and let sleep embrace her after a long time.


End file.
